I've been doing this for a couple of decades now... and if there's been a senior that's been more excited than this girl for her senior sesison... I don't remember it.
She's been telling me for a year or two on facebook and at dance picture night for Miss Kimi's Dance Konnection that I'd better be ready because she was so JACKED UP and full of ideas!
Thirty-five hundred seniors or so into this, one would think that I wouldn't get nervous anymore about living up to expectation, but... not gonna lie... I was feelin' it with this one.
We like to feel like we set a high standard here at Stewart Photography, but throw one Kaylee Clemens into the mix, and at least in her own mind, that bar had to go higher!
Maybe I am building this up to be a bigger deal than it was to Kaylee... but when she posted on facebook on June 28 that BOOKING her session was "the greatest day ever!"... one can get the idea that she MAY have been looking forward to it a bit. Follow THAT up with a post about a month from her session that included our studio's logo and a countdown clock that said something along the lines of 31 days 10 hours 23 minutes 15 seconds on it... I was starting to sweat bullets! Finally the night before the session I get a picture post showing what looked to be a living room that had been overtaken with clothes, costumes, hats, signs, scrapbooking material, chalkboards, trophies and all the aforementioned flags, poms and rifles... I KNEW it was on like Donkey Kong.
So the challenge had finally arrived, and Kaylee certainly had more ideas of her own than most... but you know what? That's awesome in my book. Sometimes it's taking the senior's spark or inspiration and running with it... and that began bright and early that September morning on the grounds of Marshalltown High School.
We started at Leonard Cole Field where I may have made Kaylee's arms nearly fall off from tosses of flags, color guard rifles and poms. The tossing continued into the MHS Community Auditorium where we paid more tribute to her color guard and added in a few twists featuring her years of dance for Team DK.
Facility administrator Al Paxson assured us that it was no problem throwing glitter everywhere on stage to get the images we wanted, but I'm thinking despite our efforts to sweep it all up... there's still remnants of our glitter-fest lingering in the floorboards there! Sorry Al!
After several hours at MHS, we finally made it back to the studio as Mama Robin, Grandma Judy and Kaylee and I kept the party rolling in Montour.
It was impossible to not be excited right along side of Miss Clemens. She has an undeniable zest for life that I hope I did justice in these images. Whether she's in her comfort zone on stage or jamming with her Beats... or even chugging a class of milk, it became obvious to me that Kaylee is one of a kind... and I'm honored that she chose me to help her depict that in her senior images. I know it's had to be unbearable torture for her to wait to see these... and after 32 days, 22 hours and 29 minutes I hope it was worth every second.
Thanks Miss Kaylee.
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